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Persian Gulf; Iran's Venture in Image Rehab

IT was a kind of coming-out party, with all eyes focused on Iran as it stepped forward after nearly two decades mostly shrouded from world view. What guests glimpsed at an international Islamic conference here was in some ways infuriatingly contradictory: a poised, gracious Iran eager to leave a good impression, but one also still burning with old resentments.

But then, ever since its rebirth in the 1979 revolution, Iran has been a far more complex creature than the one depicted in Western snapshots of fiery mullahs, subservient women and legions of martyrs. And if the gathering in Teheran last week was hardly an acknowledgment that the old view had been altogether mistaken, the huge turnout suggested a willingness to entertain the hope that Iran's coming of age may bring with it more maturity. Those looking for moderation could find evidence, or not.

There was the inaugural address by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, heir to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as the steward of revolution, with the usual tirade against Western influence. But then came more conciliatory remarks by the new President, Mohammed Khatami, whose calls for opening Iran to the outside world have given voice to a very different dimension of Iranian political thought. And while reiterating its opposition to the United States' policies toward Israel and military role in the Persian Gulf, Iran did not push those views on others, acting more statesmanlike than revolutionary.

The Dissident

Washington, of course, was not invited; had it been, it would have stayed away. Alone in the world, the United States remains intent on isolating Iran, regularly denouncing the clerical regime in terms that probably rank it second to Iraq in American demonology. But some of the symbolism on display in Teheran seemed to underscore a spreading view that Iran is not only too important to ignore, but is also perhaps a country with which others can do business.

From Saudi Arabia, which has shunned Iran as a most undesirable neighbor: a drapery from the door of the Holy Kaaba of Mecca -- a remarkable gift from the capital of Sunni Muslim orthodoxy to the rival Shiite Muslim regime that remains the world's only Islamic republic.

President Suleyman Demirel of Turkey, another ally of the West, exchanged embraces with Iranian clerics who regularly criticized his government for its secular orientation and its military ties with Israel. Even Foreign Minister Amr Moussa of Egypt -- on his visit to a city that has a street named after the militant Muslim Egyptian who assassinated President Anwar el-Sadat -- said the gathering had produced ''some kind of improvement in ties'' between his country and Iran.

Iran, for its part, has silenced its calls for an export of the Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah and sent shock waves across the Middle East. Mr. Khatami's stunning victory last May over a candidate supported by the religious establishment showed how far democracy has come. And while Ayatollah Khamenei is still the supreme leader in what remains a mullahcracy, the support that 69 percent of Iranians gave to Mr. Khatami shows the urbane face of those who never felt a kinship with the radical clerics.

''For the first time, we can see Iran as not just black or white, but as complex and more refined,'' a diplomat here said. ''I'm not saying they are angels, but this is not a one-man dictatorship, like Saddam's in Iraq.''

One question still difficult if not impossible to answer is whether overtures like those on display last week encourage moderation or coddle the worst elements in Iran. American views have veered from one extreme to the other, with little success on either end of the spectrum. The effort to reach out to Iran reached its most absurd and embarrassing proportion with the secret arrival in 1986 of the Bible- and cake-bearing mission led by Robert McFarlane, President Reagan's national security adviser, to which Iranian officials turned their backs. Since then, Washington's pattern has been to turn its own back on Iran until it forswears, for one thing, its support for violent opponents of a broader Middle East peace.

Iran, in turn, has said the economic sanctions imposed by the United States leave no grounds for any overture at all. But among its neighbors, Iran has begun to extend olive branches. It has played a restrained role in trying to mediate conflicts in countries like Afghanistan and Tajikistan, while working hard to promote warmer relations with American allies like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which until recently had followed the United States in regarding Iran as something akin to the devil incarnate.

It was the dividends of those efforts that were evident here last week as Iran took the reins for the next three years of the 55-member Organization of the Islamic Conference. Not only was the international gathering the largest to be held in Teheran since the revolution, but it far eclipsed in size and prominence an American-sponsored gathering in Qatar less than a month earlier, which was marred by an Arab boycott in protest of Israel's participation.

Still Skeptical

Misgivings within the Sunni-dominated Islamic world of Iran's Shiite regime still run so deep that few if any of those who attended were doing so to demonstrate wholehearted support for Iran's domestic and internal policies. Many were motivated first by obligations to an Islamic organization they hope can wield increasing weight, and perhaps second by a curiosity about Mr. Khatami, a man who had been unknown to many of them. Tiny oil-rich monarchies like Kuwait and Bahrain that have embraced American military protection remained skeptical of their giant neighbor's claims that it has no hostile intentions. ''There are a lot of lookers but no buyers,'' a European diplomat said.

But in taking a fresh look at Iran, with its 60 million people, vast territory and considerable resources, the guests saw an Iran that, at least on the surface, had taken great pains to present a post-revolutionary face.

In the lobby of the former Intercontinental hotel, which was nationalized after the revolution, a mosaic that read ''Down With the U.S.A.'' was removed, after 18 years, during a pre-conference renovation. In its place, computers offered direct, high-speed links to the World Wide Web. In guest rooms, televisions offered satellite programming, still officially against the law in the rest of Teheran. And while Ayatollah Khamenei's speech featured a fierce condemnation of Western civilization and what he called its gluttony, carnality and greed, Mr. Khatami, by contrast, quickly pronounced himself in favor of ''the establishment of dialogues'' to achieve ''deep-rooted understanding of the cultural and moral dimensions of other societies.''

That was enough for the State Department to declare that the United States, too, would ''welcome and support the idea of an open dialogue between different cultures and civilizations.'' But in Teheran, many foreign residents and visitors said they believed that both sides could benefit by being less oblique.

''It is an open question whether these hints of moderation are tactical or strategic,'' a European diplomat said. ''But it is incumbent on everyone, including the United States, to watch closely and listen.''